Black Hollow
by Lilmissrobin
Summary: The Justice League are the protectors of earth, The superheroes we read about on a daily basis. But there are some heroes who aren't part of the league who help them and take care of their own cities. Black Hollow is a city with its own heroes, three young vigilantes who will help whenever they can. This is their story, this is their city. rated for mild cursing.


_**AN: Hey there. So first off this is the first story I've put on FF. However, I did not make this story/write it on my own. My two best friends, Allicen and Alex. , wrote this right along with me. Anyone you recognize belongs to D.C. Comics. Everything else is ours. Enjoy and don't forget to review! Thanks. **_

I.

For once the city of Black Hollow was silent. The full moon stood high in the sky creating dark shadows on every street corner. The fog from the ocean covered the streets, creating a mist that floated just above the snow covered sidewalks. If you looked closely enough, you could make out the shadows of three teenagers as they jumped over rooftops of the buildings. But lucky for them no one saw.

The three stood high above the twinkling lights and passersby, looking down at the city below. The sound of children laughing and choirs singing could be heard from city square a block away. The boy held his black eye mask in his left hand , that hid his black eyes, and brushed his long black hair away from his face with the other. He leaned against the rooftop railing of the Morgan Enterprise skyscraper building, facing his friends. He wore a pair of black jeans and a black hoodie, with the hood back. His combat boots were planted on the rooftop floor as the chain from his belt dangled to the side. Demonic, other known as Alexander L. Morgan, couldn't help but smile at the two girls he had known since childhood.

The two girls stood there facing him. One girl wearing Black tights, a dark purple long-sleeved shirt under her sleeveless black hoodie that had a purple rose on the chest where the thorns of the flower criss crossed its way around the jacket like a web. Her black hair was in a braid, laying over her right shoulder, her bangs pulled back out of her face. The purple domino eye mask she wore was in her hand, allowing her friends to see the hazel eyes it hid. The black, light shoes she wore made no sound on the ground as she jumped on the balls of her feet, walking towards the railing. Rose, also known as Isabelle Addo Westwood, Looked down at the city square and smiled as the police commissioner got ready to do his speech. The one he did every year before lighting the huge 15 foot tall Christmas tree.

The shortest of the three let loose a soft, tinkling giggle. The soft wind blew past, blowing her chocolate brown locks over her shoulders and tumbling down her breasts. She was dressed in a simple black hoodie that was two sizes too big, a fluffy black tutu, and skeleton tights that ended in big leather combat boots. She grinned happily at her friends, playing with the tiny lacey black mask she held delicately between her long, slender fingers. Her twinkling sapphire eyes smiled up at her friends as they watched over the safety of the citizens as her bangs fell half-hazardly across her forehead. Nightmaren, or, Alicen Hana Demir as everyone else knew her, pushed her bangs out of her face with a soft huff as she hopped up on the railing, peering down at the ceremony as the lights twinkled from below like snowflakes that had just landed. "I hope everything goes alright," She mumbled into the wind.

"We probably shouldn't stay here for too long," Alex replied. "We do have to make sure nobody dies after all." He turned around to face the other two. He raised his mask to his eyes. "You guys almost ready to go? 'Cause I'm not waiting." And with that final statement, he leapt from the rail.

Alicen arched a slender brow, leaning across the railing to peer at her companions.

Rolling her eyes, Isabelle looked at Alicen. "Do we truly have to? The commissioner is just about done with his speech, and I really want to see the tree lighting. I watch it every year with my dad. But he's out patrolling. We don't have to go fight crime tonight. Our parents got this."

Alicen jumped from her perch and landed gracefully in front of her two friends, flicking her hair back. "I second Izzy. I'm sure our parents are doing just fine without our help. If we try to interfere, we'll probably just be pests to them." She fingered her mask anxiously.

"Besides my dad doesn't even know that i'm out here. I told him i was going to a christmas party. Please, Alex!" Alex crossed his arms, looking more pissed off than he already was. "_Morgan_, you're not the damn leader! I'm watching the tree lighting and theres nothing you can do about it." And with that Isabelle walked away towards the City square.

"Fine. We can go just as long as you promise me something. If we hear anything we gotta go see what's going on. Got it? And I never said I was our leader."

Alicen snorted and crossed her arms. "Yes, _boss._" She chirped and skipped after Isabelle.

"I didn't hear a thing you said. And i don't really give a damn either." Isabelle walked faster and stopped to stand near a tree.

"Aren't you full of attitude today? What's up with you?"

Alicen huffed as she hopped down the roof and onto the fire escape below, looking up at Alex with brows arched high into her bangs. "Are you coming or not?" She called as she continued to hop down the fire escape until her feet landed onto the hard concrete sidewalk below.

Just as the commissioner was going to flick the tree light switch, a bang was heard from the center of the crowed. "Oh shit!"

"I hope you planned on keeping that promise," shouted Alex.

"We should tell our parents. You know so they don't get all mad and yell at us later." Isabelle looked towards her friends.

"What? Do you not have confidence in our skills? We don't always need help from them. Let's go," Alex started yelling.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit shit. My dad's soo gonna kill me when he see's me in uniform." Isabelle ran towards the crowd.

Alicen followed after Isabelle without a word, racing down the sidewalk towards the smoke and the crowd of people who had their cell phones out and were taking videos of the disaster as it occurred. Praying that she beat her mother to the site, she skidded to a halt and peered over the large crowd, cursing at her short stature. She hoped and prayed that her mother wasn't already currently on the scene; her mother always got furious with her when she didn't do as she was told, and she was specifically asked not to even come to the ceremony. Chewing her bottom lip between her teeth, she stepped onto the tips of her toes in an attempt to peer over shoulders at the smoke and rubble.

Sirens screamed in the distance; lights nearly as bright as the Christmas tree that once stood streamed down the street. There was little to nothing left of where the commissioner had once stood; the platform, the tree - had all become rubble and ash. People were screaming, but the deafening tone of the sirens drowned out their mortified cries.

"What happened?!" Izzy cried as soon as she skidded to a halt next to her small friend, looking wildly around the scene. Alex arrived soon after, his mask in place.

"Let's go help, guys! I don't see our parents anywhere!" Alex yelled over the commotion around the trio.

Alicen shook her head violently. "No, no! My mom will kill me, Alex! I'm not even allowed to be here!" She was practically vibrating with her anxiety.

"Neither am I, but these people need help. They need protection." Isabelle, now Rose, placed her domino mask over her eyes and looked at her friends. "Nightmaren, so that your mom doesn't get mad, you need to get these people to safety. Take them to 22nd street three blocks west. Make everyone go inside the train station building. It was built to be bomb resistance after world war 2. Make sure the police help you. Demonic, you need to find the culprits shadow. Once you've found it contact me. Only engage in fighting if you must, but try not to handle them on your own." Turning back around to the screaming crowd she said, "I'm going to go defuse the second bomb."

"And how do you know theres another bomb?" Demonic asked stopping in front of her and glaring.

"Because, I heard my dad telling someone earlier that there was going to be some bombs hidden around Black Hollow. Two were suppose to be within the vicinity of Morgan Enterprise. Which is where we're at. Now go!." And with that Rose ran from the two friends.

Stopping on the corner of the square, Rose reached into a small, leather sack that she kept tied to her belt loop. She pulled out a small hand-full of seeds and threw them into the air, spreading them around the square. Almost instantly flowers and vines erupted from the seeds, covering the square. Above and under the ground, searching for any other bombs in the area.

A human-like shadow rose from the ground then fell back to the ground as if normal.

Demonic was standing behind Rose in the shadows place. "I think I found the guy. He's on top of that building," said Demonic, pointing at the building just across the street. "What now? You said not to engage him, so I kinda need an answer. Unless you want me to go get Nightmaren. We can take care of that while you defuse the bomb."

Rose nodded in silence. With that Demonic sank into his shadow and slowly faded from the square.

Rose looked around the top of the city. She was thinking rapidly, trying to figure out where the second bomb was. 'Think Izzy think. Where would the bad guy hide another bomb. He already got the commissioner.' She placed her right hand to her forehead; thinking to herself. Her head snapped up in realization. 'Morgan enterprise! Of course!'

She jumped off the vines she was on and hopped from one ledge to the other. Small puffs of air could be seen each time she exhaled; due to the coldness of the night. Snow began to twinkle down from the sky landing onto her raven dark hair. 'I should have worn my beanie. Wait there's no time to think about that! I need to find the bomb!' After jumping over twelve building she reached her destination. Her breaths came faster than usual. She was starting to get really worried. ' how much time do I have left? What happens if it isn't in the building? What if something happens to nightmaren and demonic?' Shaking her head, making the snowfall to the rooftop, she smiled. 'We'll be fine. We always are.' And with that she opened up the hidden door on the rooftop, making her way down the 22 story building.

Rose took the steps two at a time; almost slipping twice. Each floor she landed on she searched. Finally on the 15th floor she found it. Sitting on one of the desks in plain sight. She ran towards it but only got half way due to the person who came out of the shadows.

"Aww look. The mini hero came to play. Isn't that just adorable. Where's your daddy little girl? Hmm? Or are you trying to be solo like those young justice brats?" Glancing towards the bomb, rose noticed that she only had five minutes to beat the bad guy and defuse the bomb. ' great' she thought and sighed. " ok first off, I'm 15. Second I'm not like the young justice team. They don't even know about us. Well Batman does, but that's besides the point. So get the hell out of my way you piece of shit."

"You're not very nice. I should teach you a lesson." He lunged towards her but didn't get a chance to hit her. Rose did a backflip and landed on a desk next to her. She pulled out a seed and blew it out of her hand and the seeds landed all over him. They grew into vines holding him in place. She grabbed a black rose from her hair and shoved the stem through the vines. The vines themselves grew thornes. He screamed in pain as the thorns broke skin. He struggled to get free but Rose already knew there was no way he could. She cackled, stood up on the desk and leaned forward, so that they were face to face.

"Don't look so glum. The pain will stop when the police come." He scrunched his face in pain. Rose just stared with no emotion what's so ever. "Its your fault." She waved her hand behind her head as she walked to the bomb. Three minutes. 'Ugh. Why me?' She opened it up to find a picture of the joker, harley quinn and frozen. ' ok so why are there two gotham villains and one black hollow? Whatever." There were six wires she had to cut only two to deactivate it. Her father had taught her when she was 7 how to defuse bombs. It became a hobby besides hacking, gymnastics and flower growing.

She grabbed the blue wire and pulled some scissors out of her left shoe. She cut the wire in one swift motion and blew out a sigh of relief when it didn't explode. She grabbed a purple wire next. Usually it would be red and blue but this version was a EB3000. More complicated than most. She cut purple wire and was shocked when the countdown continued. 'Shit' green. Where was the green wire.' She found it and pulled it up from the very bottom. But it only reached halfway and she couldn't cut it. _'Great'_ 10, 9, 8, 7,_ 'come on iz. Think fast._' She bit her lip and pulled out her rose earrings and used the point of it. When the countdown reached 2 it finally cut. With a sigh of relief she sat back, leaning her head on the desk behind her.

"That was impressive," Rose turned to see three figures. She gave a small smirk and said "Hey, dad, Batman, Robin. What's up?"

"Youre in so much trouble, nature girl!" Robin said smiling down at her. Rose rolled her eyes then looked at the bomb.

"And I am completely ok with that, boy wonder." Glancing at her dad she said, "I really am. Whatever punishment you give me I'll be fine with. But it can wait for later!" Jumping up she grabbed the photo and handed it to Batman. "Right now I have two friends about to fight three villains. Two of which we don't deal with on a daily basis." She grabbed Robin and her Dad's hands. "Now let's go help them." The four heroes ran out the door. Rose grabbed her phone and texted Demonic as fast she could:

_Whatever you do, do NOT engage. Even if Nightmarens there. Don't engage. There's three villains one of which is the joker. _

Roses' message came through, but it was too late. Nightmaren and Demonic were already in a fight of their own.

On the other side of the square you could see the flames being shot at Frozen by Nightmaren. Shadows rising and falling from the rooftops. The two friends out-numbered and outmatched against Harley Quinn, Joker, and Frozen.

"Mista J, can I kill the girl? Please." Harley said while gesturing with her gun at Nightmaren.

Suddenly a shadow started to shift under Harleys' feet. A hand flew out and grabbed her gun. "I don't think so. You're not killing anybody tonight. Do you understand me, Quinn," Demonic whispered hatefully towards Harley. As he spoke the shadows bound her tighter and tighter, until movement was impossible. Just when Demonic turned around there was another gun in his face.

"And just who, in the hell, are you little brats?" the Joker asked, the slightest hint of curiosity in his voice. "Just look at the two of you, so adorable; you think you can actually beat me. HA!"

"Ok, you've caught me; but what makes you think we came here without backup? Just because we are kids doesn't mean we're stupid." A smile crept across Demonic's face. He heard the steady beating of feet across a nearby roof. "One of your friends is on his way," Demonic laughed. he gave a Harley Quinn impression "Oh, Mista J, you've got company." He sunk back in his shadow, lightning fast, just as the Joker had pulled the trigger.

As soon as the the bullet hit the roof Batman, Robin, Rose, and her father were standing in front of the Joker.

On the other side of the roof Demonic was being pulled out of his shadow by his mother, Demoness. "Why are you here? You know you weren't supposed to go to the festival. and you also know that you're supposed to get one of us first." She had a firm grip on his wrist.

"Mom, stop treating me like a baby. We're fine. Anyway, if it wasn't for us more of those people would be dead right now."

"Ok, I guess that's true, but you still disobeyed me."

"Demoness, calm down," said Roses father calmly. "Yes, it's true that they disobeyed us, but the did a good job here. The kept most of the people safe, the disarmed the second bomb, and the contains these three until we got here. I say let him off the hook."

Nightmaren was fighting off Frozen while batman fought off joker. Rose was going back and forth between frozen and harley quinn. Robin was doing his signature cackle while fighting harley.

"Will you shut it, wonder boy!" Rose yelled as she kicked frozen in the face.

"My name is ROBIN the boy wonder. Not wonder boy! Geez, nature girl!"

"Ugh! Both of you shut up!" Nightmaren growled. Demonic was still being scolded by his mother and Rose's father, Gideon Westwood other known as, Hyperion , was trying to convince his friend the greatness their children had done. Especially without parental guidance. Her father, like herself, was able to control nature; such as trees plants and anything that could be caused by nature such as the occasional lightning and tsunami. He looked towards his daughter. Smiling at how much she had grown, especially without a mother figure. Rose used lightning on Harley Quinn.

"You are annoying the hell outa me, Quinn! Nightmaren, you should melt Frozen face off. Give him hell. Robin, help out bats with joker. Harley, girly, its just you and me!" She laughed and then used all her strength to produce all hell with nature. Her flowers wrapped around quinn with thorns piercing her body, wood created fire and she rounded it in a circle below her feet careful not to touch the vines. She created lightning to strike every ten seconds smiling whenever quinn screamed for her "Mistah J."

"Damn; your kid seems pretty pissed, Hyperion." Demonic's mother said as her son smiled,stretching his shadow over to harley to cause more pain. Rose smiled at her friends help.

"Yeah. I should go stop her." Was all he said as he stood next to his friend. "But then again, she's doing fine."

"Well, I'm not having very much fun," exclaimed Demoness, crossing her arms. "I wanna play too."

"I swear, you and your son are so much alike," said another voice. It was Pyra, Nightmaren's mother.

Nightmaren huffed from her spot next to Pyra, who flashed her a brilliant smile.

"It looks like Robin's getting his assed kicked. Maybe we should go after joker ourselves. I mean Batman can handle him but he's getting beat too." said Hyperion, looking towards his friends/partners.

"We should. Bat boy could use some help. The kids can handle Frozen and Quinn," Demoness said with a smirk. "I mean, it could be fun. What do you two think?"

Pyra nodded, a cat-like expression crossing over her face as she stretched her arms in front of her, cracking her knuckles loudly as Nightmaren merely rolled her eyes. Her mother always tended to be a tad dramatic. "I'm up for it. It's been ages since I've been able to set fire to his pants." She smiled a wide, toothy smile at her friends.

Nightmaren choked on a cough at her mother's tone. "_Mom."_ Rose fell to her knees with her hands over her eyes screaming, "Oh my gosh! Where's the mind bleach! I so did not need to hear that. Ew ew ew ew ew!"She looked up at Pyra and asked, "Wait, did you mean it to be nasty? Cause that's what it sounded like. Ugh! I don't care. I still need the mind bleach!"

At hearing Pyra's comment the Dark Night couldn't help himself from turning towards her with a weird expression on his face. One with disgust, confusion and shock. Robin hit Joker at that moment with a knock out gas pellet making the clown fall to the ground.

"I'm going to have nightmares for a week, just cause of what you said." The boy wonder stated with a small shiver, trying desperately to get what Pyra said out of his head. Hyperion shook his head and gave a small chuckle at how everyone reacted to what Pyra said. He'd known the woman for years and was used to her saying things like that and knew that she didn't mean it the way it sounded to the kids..

Pyra merely scoffed at her friend's attitudes. With a roll of her eyes and a flip of her hair, she bit out, "Not. Like. That. I meant, you know, _literal flames. _ Sick sons of bitches," The last sentence was muttered under her breath as Nightmaren choked. "You guys need help!"

"Says the one wanting to set fire to someone's _pants!_" Nightmaren shrieked in reply.

"You also could have worded it better." Replied Rose while Batman looked at Pyra as if saying 'The fuck?'

Pyra merely stared back at him, her eyebrow quirked. "Want to be my demonstration, _Batman_?" she purred while she flicked her fingers, sparks flying off the tips dangerously.

The Dark Knight just turned away and walked towards the edge of the building while Robin laughed.

"So, are we done tonight? Cause I'm kinda tired now," relied Demonic quickly trying to break the tension.

"Yeah i gotta pee. Sorry none of y'all needed to hear that." Rose said, still sitting on the ground.

"Okay, so then the three of us will just go home and…"

Demoness cut off her son"I don't think so you little shits, I am not done with you guys. You're all in so much trouble."

Nightmaren slinked behind her friends wordlessly, hoping that their tall statures would obscure her from view.

Rose laid down onto her back whining, "But, auntie D i really got to go!"

"Rosie needs to tinkle," Pyra commented, leaning forward and smirking at the little hero who was pressed against the floor with her legs crossed tightly, as if to ward off the urge. With a bigger smirk, Pyra sang, "I can start a fire and let you take it out, you little fire hose."

"At this point i would." Rose replied with a smirk on her face. Batman and Robin were staring at them shaking their heads.

"Whatever, I'm going home," Demonic started sinking into his shadow. He grabbed Rose's and Nightmarens hand and they started sinking too.

"I'm too young to die!" Nightmaren shrieked as she sank farther and farther into the ground, to the adult's amusement. "Was this because I ate Demon's fries that one time and didn't tell him? If so, I'm _terribly sorry!" _With her voice on borderline panic, she kept screeching for help.

As Nightmaren yelled, Rose was screaming "Free the pee, free the pee." Over and over again.

With a scoff, her mom kicked her in the back of the head before she vanished completely. "Maybe I shouldn't have inhaled so much smoke when I was pregnant with her." She commented.

"Okay then, we're gonna go back on patrol then, you can go deal with your 'family issues'," Batman tried hard to keep the amusement from his tone, but it came out regardless. It hung in the air for a moment before he coughed and swished his cape, he and Robin vanishing from sight.

Pyra stared at where they had been standing, then flicked her glance to the confused villains. With a flick of her fingers, sparks began to dance at their feet. Beginning to screech, Pyra flicked them closer and burned their legs with a bark of, "Silent!" Turning to Demoness, she smiled a toothy smile. "Can you handle this?"

.:~:.

Back at the heros apartment the shadows began to dance and slowly spread from the wall. The children emerged from one of the shadows in the corner. As soon as they came out of the shadow, Rose ran to the bathroom with lightning speed. and Nightmaren was still yelling "Free the pee. Free the pee, Rosie."

Alicen flipped off her mask and tucked it securely in her pocket before pulling on her hair to move it into place. "About the fry thing…" She laughed nervously, her eyes looking everywhere but the guy next to her.

Alexander took his mask off and walked through the apartment, down the hall to his room. Ten minutes later he came back. Changed out of his patrol clothes, wearing black basketball shorts and a black t-shirt. his long black hair tied back, uncovering his face. He laid on the couch.

Alicen snorted and dug her hands into the pockets of her loose fitting hoodie, leaning against the wall as she waited for Rose to free the pee. Crossing her legs at the ankles, she played with the hem of her black denim shorts.

Isabelle walked out of the bathroom with a huge smile on her lips. "I freed the pee!" She yelled loudly. She had changed into a knee length white dress with a light purple ribbon around the waist. Her hair was tied up into a messy bun with curls hanging down. She was still fixing the pink ankle socks on her feet.

Alicen merely arched one slender brow, before lifting herself off the wall and dancing to her friend's side. "I'm glad you freed the pee," She said, bluntly, pulling her hair out of her face with a shake of her hands.

Isabelle laughed and stood upright. "I know, me too! I was about to do the pee pee dance. And that my friend is a dance that know one should see."

With a snort, Alicen leaped ahead of Isabelle, her hair trailing behind her like a mahogany curtain.

Leading the way into the kitchen, she hopped up onto an island seat and scooted her way to the fridge, peering inside and grabbing what she deemed "hero grub," which mainly consisted of yogurt, string cheese, lemonade, and chicken tenders.

Moving back to her spot on the island, Alicen started to hum and wiggle in her seat as she prepared her snack happily, to the amusement of her partners who were watching her from the doorway.

"Do you think if we ask nicely she'l give us some of her string cheese?" Isabelle asked Alex as she leaned against the doorframe.

"_Her _string cheese?" Alex huffed and crossed his arms. "Last time I checked, that cheese came out of _my _fridge in _my _apartment."

Alicen's sing-song voice floated through the air. "You can ask, but I doubt I'll let you,"

Rolling her eyes Isabelle walked to the fridge and brought out a jug of chocolate milk, and a left over chicken fettuccine dish that her dad made her the day before. Moving to the cupboards, she grabbed a glass cup and placed it on the counter then heated up her food. She poured the milk into the glass. she placed her steaming dish onto the island counter, put the milk away then sat down onto a stool. "Why don't you eat something from _your _fridge, from _your _apartment?" Isabelle asked playfully as she moved her bangs with her hand and, unsuccessfully, as they kept falling back into her eyes.

Alicen's tinkling giggle echoed through the now silent kitchen as Alex stalked forward and opened his fridge, grabbing leftover lamb before securing a jug of iced tea. Kicking his fridge closed, he moved towards the microwave to heat it and leaned against the counter as the girls behind him ate with a vengeance.

"Okay so here's an important thing we need to discuss. If we're a team then who is our leader?" Isabelle asked placing the glass to her lips and taking a sip. "And who is going to tell our parents of the events of the night, and why we weren't at home like they asked."

Alicen hid behind her towering glass of lemonade. She knew she wasn't a leader; she absolutely hated having to tell her friends what to do. As for the telling parents part.. Her mom's face appeared in her mind, and she flinched. Her mom was scary when she was mad..

Alex gave no answer and Isabelle looked down at her food. "Well? Anyone? Come on who is the person you think should be leader? Whoever becomes leader tells our parents. I mean yes there scary when they're angry but come on it can't be that bad. It will be better if we tell them right away then having them go straight to yelling at us and calling us little kids and stuff."

Alicen and Alex glanced at each other before looking at Isabelle with nearly identical smirks crossing their faces.

"I vote for Izzy to be the leader!" Alice sang, and Alex noded in agreement.

"Wow. You guys are fucked up." She glared at them and then her features looked worried. "Are you guys serious? You want me to be the leader? Am i really leader worthy?" At Alicen's nod and Alex's slight nod, Isabelle sighed.

"Sounds like a bunch of responsibility to me. I'd rather not," spoke Alex quietly, a small grin on his face. "But in all honesty, I think you'll be the best leader. I'm not good at giving directions."

"You know me," Alicen crooned softly. "I'm not leader material. And when I think of a great leader, I think of you," Her gaze shifted to Alex and a playful note took dominance in her tone, "And when I think of the worst."

"Hmm." Isabelle hummed then glanced down, stood up and walked to the phone. "Okay fine. I'm the leader. I guess ill go call our parents now." After about 20 minutes Isabelle walked back into the room. "Yup they're pissed at us. But i took all the blame so ya'll are off the hook. Oh umm I have to go home now. I can't go on patrol for a month and my dad and your moms came to the conclusion that I have to have a babysitter. Even though I'm 15. So who do you think they'll get?" She looked up at her two best friends with a smirk.

Alicen cocked her head to the side as the digested the information she was given. "But, you're like, three months older than me." She muttered out after a prolonged silence. "Maybe, they'll decide to hire Harley or something to teach you." With an elegant shrug, she hopped off the stool and threw away her wrappers.

"Why would they get a bad guy? I mean I heard your mom, Alicen, say something about Batman, Bruce, or sending me off to an army camp. I would rather not go to boot camp."

Alicen simply shrugged her slender shoulders. "Better you than me." She said with a smirk. "If it was me, she'd have killed me, set me on fire, revive me, only to burn me again and scream about how stupid I was being and how I make her job hard." With an eye roll, she leaned against the damp counter next to the sink.

"Hey! I just saved your ass so shut up about your possible punishment."

"Yes, Boss!" Alicen chimed as she saluted.

At that moment her phone buzzed and she looked down. It was a text message from her dad saying, 'We decided who your babysitter will be Bruce Wayne Monday to Wednesday and Thursday to Saturday is ME. HE HE.'

"I'm doomed." was all Isabelle said.

"Wait, wait, wait, _wait,"_ Alicen shrieked, snatching Isabelle's phone from her and staring at the screen as if it wasn't real. "W-W_hat_?! Are you serious?!" Her voice was rising higher and higher in pitch, and if she didn't shut up soon, she was going to end up breaking all the glass and her friend's ear drums. Alex slapped the back of her head and with a yelp, she shut up and lowered her voice to near silence. "They weren't kidding when they said they were going to get you a mature babysitter. But seeing it happen is even funnier!"

Glaring at her friends she turned towards the living room and snatched her phone from Alicen. "I have to go. My babysitter will be here in a few minutes." With a sigh she grabbed her winter coat and laid her scarf around her neck.

Alicen leaped off the counter and danced over towards her friend. Placing a delicate hand on her shoulder, she frowned minutely. "I'm sorry for laughing," She mumbled, before managing a small smile. "Lemme know if you ever need me to come over and burn their shoes or something."

Laughing Izzy replied, "Of course. Hey i wonder if i'll get to hang in the Batcave. Wait! Shit! That stupid ward of his is going to be there. Great." The sound of tires stopping over snow could be heard from where the three teens stood.

Isabelle turned to give her friends a soft smile before walking out the open door and into the snow outside.

.:~:.

Sirens screamed into the night as fire trucks and ambulances alike streaked down the empty street. Lights flashing, tires shrieking. People peaked out their curtains at the commotion. Alicen, having just woken up from her nap, owlishly blinked as she glanced out her bay window on the top floor of her penthouse apartment. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and yawning wide enough to show a pair of pearly white fangs, she wiped her face hard.

Her hair was a mahogany mess of tangles and pieces that stuck up all over her head as if she had been electrocuted. Her slim black tank top was wrinkled and pushed up on one side. Her pink flannel pajama bottoms had kittens over them.

With another yawn, she peered at the clock resting against the end table, letting out a groan as the time rang out to be just after two in the morning. Deeming it important, she slowly shuffled her way to her phone that rested against her clock, picking it up and unlocking it, before heading over to her contacts.

It rang twice before a sleepy voice was heard over the line.

"Ali, do you know what time it is?" Izzy sleepily muttered. She sounded as if she just woke up, and Alicen bit her lip. She knew that feeling.

"I know, Iz," Alicen replied, the cheery tone gone from her voice. It was replaced with a toneless monotone, and Izzy's voice suddenly seemed more aware. "Have you heard the sirens? They just streamed down my street, shrieking and screaming. There were like, two firetrucks and five ambulances; one right after the other."

"Where?" Izzy sounded awake now, and Alicen could hear shuffling. It sounded as if she was hurriedly getting dressed.

Alicen winced. Maybe calling Izzy first was a mistake..

"Iz, you can't come."

The other line grew silent, and for a moment, Alicen wondered if the leader had hung up on her. A low growl resounded and goosebumps arose on her skin.

"I-I mean," She scrambled to explain herself before pissing her off farther, "Aren't you grounded? For like, eternity?"

At Izzy's pause, Alicen rushed through.

"I'm sure Alex and I can handle this. I just.. I thought you'd like to know."

"I don't care." Isabelle's voice was hard. "I'm coming and there's no way you can stop me. I'll see you there. Don't bother calling Alex, I got it." She hung up without another word and Alicen sighed, staring at her phone for a moment before giving up. She threw her phone onto her large, messy, plushy bed and moved towards her closet. She needed to find something dark to wear.

After finding something suitable, she slowly crept towards her window and opened it carefully, as to not wake her mother. Looked towards the nearest rooftop, it was around a 10 foot gap with a 15 foot drop, and jumped.

As soon as her feet hit the roof she was off, running with remarkable speed, given her sleep-deprived state. Stopping every so often to see which direction the sirens had gone.

She was getting close, the sirens were getting louder. She kept running, jumping gracefully from roof to roof.

She looked over the edge of her current building, below in 5th street she saw something she couldn't believe. Bodies had littered the ground, blood covered the street and the building walls. Broken windows, arms hanging out of them.

"What happened," she's said to herself, horror taking hold of her. She jumped to the sound of footsteps behind her. Rose and Demonic were coming out from behind a generator.

"Sorry it took so long, he wouldn't answer his phone. I had to call three times." Rose gestured to a yawning Demonic. But the look of terror on her friends face made her run to the edge and look. "What the hell happened down there?"

Demonic walked over to see. "Oh, this looks like it's gonna be fun," an hint of sarcasm in his voice. "Are you okay, Nightmaren? You can stay up here if you want."

"No," she slowly spoke, as she climbed onto the edge. "I have to help."

The three of them jumped down the fire escape and ran to the end of the alleyway. Stopping at the sound of a woman screaming.

"No, you can't, not my children..." Another scream, crying, then silence.

Nightmaren made a break for the alleyway, her friends yelling at her to stop. But she couldn't. Not when someone needed her help.

"Shit!" Rose yelled. Turning her head she faced Demonic, shadows wrapped around Nightmaren, lifting her into the air. Stopping her instantly. "Nightmaren, calm the fuck down! We need a plan. We can't just charge into a fight that we don't know shit about. Got it?" She looked down the alley then turned back to her friends.

"We probably shouldn't stay right here though, whatever did that might've heard that," Demonic said yawning.

"I have a plan. Demonic hide in any shadow you want to. But not too close to the enemy. I want you to find out what he's doing. Nightmaren, stay above in the fire escape and stay hidden and observe what's going on and tell me through the comm. I'm going to stay at the end of the alley where he's at since its a dead end. I'll be on the other side. Don't engage. Only if necessary. And if we need help we will call our parents. Understood?" She eyed the two.

"Okay, let me get this straight. So I hide in a shadow, and watch. Then we come up with a plan. while you two stay in the alley and stay hidden. Right? Okay, whatever, sounds good to me," Demonic sank into a shadow and vanished.

Nightmaren heaved a sigh and nodded, leapt up onto the fire escape and climbed up until she landed high enough to have full sight and enough coverage not to be seen. Hiding behind a large potted plant, she peered around the dense coverage of trees and examined the scene below as her friend's voices floated in her ears from the earpiece she was given.

There was a ragged woman dressed in muddy, ripped clothes. She was hunched over, her arms encasing what appeared to be a mass of matted clothing. Two pairs of bright eyes peered out uneasily from beneath the mountain of cloth. She was obviously attempting to protect the children. Her posture was stiff, her hands tight. Her eyes, glassy and unfocused, were trained on the being in all black in front of her. He was flipping open and closed a sharp switchblade that glinted in the night. He was lanky, obviously not built for battle.

"Suspect has a switchblade," Nightmaren murmured into the earpiece. "There are three civilians. A woman and two children. She's defending them." She bit her lip as she watched, helpless, as the scene unfolded in front of her eyes like a distorted, messed up play.

He flipped the switchblade open with a snap, and a small smirk fell across thin lips, stretched to the max to accommodate such a dirty, toothy smile. He took a step forward, and the trio stumbled a step back. This routine followed until the three were pressed against a chain link fence that blocked off the alleyway to the main street.

"G-Get away!" The woman cried her voice hoarse. The man only slinked closer, obviously trying to test her boundaries. With each step closer, she yelled more and more, her voice coming out in a harsh whisper.

Another voice came through the earpiece, "Should I stop this, or let this guy slaughter innocent people? Cause that's not cool," Demonic whispered.

Nightmaren's voice was airy and wispy as it washed through her partner's ears. "I second Demonic. This is unfair, Rose. We should help them." She was itching to leap down there and break off his hand for even thinking about harming those innocent people.

"Do something, then." Rose responded.

The three shadows began to swirl around the victim's feet, and they were pulled down. Seconds later they were standing next to Rose, Demonics hand on the old woman's shoulder. "Got 'em."

Rose stepped forward towards the enemy and raised her hand causing vines to surround him. A growl escaped from her throat as the man began to cry for mercy.

Suddenly the man's jaw unhinged, his arms and legs extended. A large, long spiked tail grew from behind, flipping at the heroes menacingly. Spikes tore through his skin. His eyes glowed red. When he spoke there were two voices, "How dare you. They were mine. I will devour all of your souls!"

"Um y'all see this too right?" Rose looked to her friends bringing out her phone bringing up her contacts scrolling straight for her dad's number.

"That's not normal," Demonic began yelling as terror fell over him. "Get the old woman and the kids, and run. Shadows too slow for the four of us. I'll grab the lady." Demonic sprinted to where he left the small group of survivors, had the woman climb onto his back and started up the fire escape.

Rose used vines to grab the two children and put them on the roof of a nearby building. She continued to call her dad breathing a sigh of relief when she heard her father reply with a "Hello?" She told him the situation calmly and told him all the events that had come about that night. After about two minutes he said he was on his way along with back up. Rose ran towards the man as he tried to lash out at Nightmaren and struck him with lightning all while telling her friends on the comm. what her dad had said.

Nightmaren huffed. Why were the evil guys always targeting _her _first?! With a barely controlled growl, she lifted her hand and sparks flew off tangibly. With a sinister smile, she flicked her wrist, the flames bending to her control and licking the man's feet as he screamed and danced, trying to avoid the flames.

Within ten minutes Roses father, Hyperion, along with, Pyra and Demonnes showed up along with some other heroes that Rose didn't have time to recognize, as huge claw from the , what once was a man, came at her. She dodged it and rolled away doing a handstand before gracefully landing her feet on the ground.

The man, noticing the arrival of more opponents, reached behind his back. With a yell of pain, he pulled two of the spikes from his flesh. blood dripping from the tips.

Nightmaren shrieked, "That is _so _not normal!" As she scurried around for coverage, she almost ran into Pyra, who leveled her daughter with a glare before turning away with a huff.

"Why didn't you wake me, sweetheart?" She cooed her tone dipping acid.

"No time to chat," Rose said doing two cartwheels and a back flip to fall next to Pyra, while dodging a bloody spike. "We need to focus on what going on." She paused for a moment then looked up to meet Pyras eyes, "And yes i am well aware that I'm still grounded."

Pyra shrugged a slender shoulder and with a flick of her wrist, sent a trail of fire to surround their demonic suspect. The fire licked around him, and he paused in his attacks, looking around confused for a moment.

"What do we do with these people," Demonic began, but almost as soon as he did, his mother walked over to the small group of survivors and had them sink once more into a shadow.

The demon finally realized what was going on and let out a roar of anger. "I will kill you all!" He dashed through the flames, they singed his clothes, but that didn't slow him down. He charged Demonic.

Within a matter of seconds he held Demonic, by the collar of his sweater, above his head. He slowly opened his mouth. Demonic peered into the gaping hole, all he saw was darkness. But darkness was good.

With a simple twitch of his finger darkness came from the creatures mouth, wrapping his head. He dropped Demonic to the rooftop.

Nightmaren huffed a sigh as she moved up. "You don't pay me enough for this," She mumbled as she raced after the suspect who had made a break across the rooftops, running in the direction of central park.

"We don't get paid." Rose murmured under her breath. She cart wheeled to wear Demonic laid and crouched down next to him looking at the monster.

"Well we should. It would be a lil' incentive," said Demonic, sitting up, still gasping for air. "anyway, what's the plan?" Demonic slowly got to his feet.

"The plan is to observe the enemy, then to attack once we figure out how the thing works." Rose said brushing dust from her tights.

"Fall back troops. Go observe. we can't let anyone get hurt fighting something we don't know about." Hyperion grabbed his daughter and ran off.

.:~:.

Nightmaren huffed from her position next to her mother. After everyone decided to observe the enemy, everyone had broken up into pairs. Pyra happily dragged her daughter to the nearest rooftop to observe him as he trekked a dangerous path through the empty park.

"Thank heavens it's past three am. Only weirdo's are out this late," She mumbled to herself, peering over the concrete edge to the ground thirty feet below.

"You should think before you say something like that," Demonic said smoothly into the earpiece. "Aren't we out here this late?"

"Both of you shut up," whispered Rose. "We need to focus right now, you two can chew off each other's heads later."

Nightmaren rolled her eyes.

"I wasn't even talking to _you," _She crossed her arms as her mother smothered a laugh from next to her, leaning dangerously across the ledge to peer at the suspect as he wobbled out of sight.

Pyra began to talk into her own earpiece, "We have to keep moving. This guy has to stay in sight."

"Yeah, me and Demonic are staying as close as possible to him," Demoness' voice answered. "But we aren't sure if he...it actually knows we're here."

Rose and Hyperion were closest to the man. Looking down at him from the rooftop. Speaking into her earpiece Rose said, "He hasn't moved in the last couple of minutes. I say we try and figure out who he is. A piece of cloth fell when he turned all demon like. Nightmaren, do you think you can find out where he got his clothes from and then hack into their security system? Demonic keep tabs on demon guy."

"Oh irony, you cruel mistress," Demonic said. "Okay."

Hyperion moved down the fire escape to get closer to the demon thing. Rose ran off to give Nightmaren the cloth.

"Got it," Nightmaren chimed through the earpiece as she pulled her laptop out of the small bag she kept at her hip. When Rose had hurried over, she took the cloth and examined it carefully, before her fingers were ghosting along the keys to her laptop as she coded and shortcutted through the company's crappy security. After five minutes of continuous typing, she let a smile fall across her lips. "I'm in."

There was a hint of sarcasm in Demonics' voice, "okay...so are you gonna tell us what you've got? Or do we just get an 'I'm in'?"

"Yeah it would be helpful." Rose replied through the comm. "Demonic, bro has the demon thingy done anything?"

"Not really, just walking around. Probably trying to find more people to kill. Any suggestions, guys?"

Everybody's voices came through the earpiece, "No."

The minutes ticked by.

"Okay, I got a plan. Demonic hold him down with a shadow. Nightmaren, Pyra, I need a distraction. Daddy, you and I are going to capture the guy. I have a sedative I took from the batcave on my way over here. It'll knock the guy out in seconds. I just need to get it in his system. Got it?" Rose said into her comm. link smirking.

"Okay, mom and me will hold this guy down the best we can. Just be ready to use that sedative stuff," said Demonic.

"Got it," replied rose.

Two shadows slithered their way through the darkness towards the creature. Both of them wrapped around it, stopping him in his tracks. It opened its mouth and started to yell with anger, but Demoness lifted her arm, making the shadows inside of him wrap around its face. "I'm so done with you," she directed toward him.

Rose and Hyperion sprang forward, ready to use the sedative. But the tail broke from the shadows hold and lashed at Rose. Hyperion made roots from the nearby grass grab it before it hit his daughter.

"Thank you daddy," sang Rose as she administered the sedative. Only seconds passed before the creature began to fall.

The roots and shadows released it as it fell to the ground. There was a heavy thud followed by a smaller one as the tail hit the destroyed grass patch.

.:~:.

Then the thing shifted back into a man. That same lanky man that stood in front if the woman and children with the bloody knife.

The entire group stood around the man, looking down as he lay there, unconscious.

"Okay," Nightmaren spoke up, "I found something out. My laptop has facial recognition software. So I scanned his face from the security data, and cross referenced it with city security systems," by now she had everyone's full attention, Demoness so focused that her mouth was agape slightly. "Apparently he was a scientist. And something happened. He injected himself with animal DNA."

"Okay, so where did he work?" Asked Hyperion.

"...Well...he worked at...Morgan Enterprises," she said, almost crying. All eyes had shifted from Nightmaren to Demoness.

"What," she said, a look of disbelief in her face. "How's that possible-"

But Hyperion cut her off, "maybe we should go somewhere private," he suggested.

.:~:.

The team had regrouped in the Demir penthouse. Lounging on the plush leather couches that surrounded a flat screen television that remained off, the group all took off their masks. Alex was allowing Isabelle to braid his long hair back.

"Okay," said Demoness (A.K.A. Daliah), brushing her hair from her eyes, placing it behind her ears, "As I was saying out there; _What the actual hell!_?" She jumped up to her feet. "How could one of my scientists work on something without superior approval? I mean what the fu-"

"Enough, Daliah," said Hyperion (A.K.A. Gideon Westwood). "We need to think about this. So sit back down and try to stay calm. Also, try not to yell as much; you'll wake the entire block."

"Okay," Daliah said in an anger filled whisper, "it just doesn't make sense to me." She fell back into a chair, placing one hand on her forehead, the other on her knee.

There was a shuffling from a closet in the hallway. Daliah looked up, a combination of anger and fear expressed on her face. "I guess he's awake."

"I guess so," whispered Pyra (A.K.A Katherine Demir). She stood up at the same time as Daliah. Both of them inched their way towards a closet in the narrow hallway.

"I don't feel anything inside," said Katherine. "There's no heat coming from inside. He didn't change again, I could still feel the body heat from him when it was that creature." Shock fell over her now.

Daliah understood. "Kids, close your eyes and listen to your music. Please."

All of them did as she had asked.

Daliah turned the knob on the door and it flew open. Out fell the body of the scientist. Blood was on his shirt, it had come from his mouth.

Alicen's small fingers gripped Isabelle's bicep as music tinkled out of her ears. Keeping her eyes squeezed shut, the petite brunette buried her face in her leader's shoulder as the smell of blood surrounded the room. Feeling as if she was about to vomit, her hands tightened. She could hear muffled shuffling as she cowered behind their leader. Her mother cursed, and she smelt burnt fibers.

"Dammit, Katherine!" Daliah hissed through what sounded like clenched teeth. "I told you not to _set his pants on fire!"_

Katherine's voice drifted through, soft and willowy. "You said no such thing," Alicen's mother scoffed. "You said I couldn't set _Bruce's _pants on fire. You said nothing about this fella." As if to make a point, she kicked the fallen man thing.

"Enough you too. deal with that," whispered Gideon. "Deal with that, I'll take the kids somewhere. Besides, I need to call the 'baby-sitter', but I'll take them to my place," he said as he gathered the children, all of their eyes still closed. He guided them to the door, opened it, and left.


End file.
